We are visiting my parents in Missoula, MT for Thanksgiving, and there are some flowering crabs planted in a green strip next to the interstate. One of them had two trunks and the eastern trunk had these lunchbox size apples. We had an inch of two of snow last night and these were delicious! Clean, crisp, sweet - my dad described them as tasting like a small Honeycrisp. I will be taking some scion wood home for sure! @marknmt if you or anyone is in the Missoula area, I’m happy to share the address.
Any ideas what the rootstock might have been? I’m assuming this is a sucker from whatever the crab was grafted to…
nice! its always a treat to stumble on new apple varieties. like winning the lottery. i found 2 in the last couple years that im adding to my trees. one i grafted last year, i called limestone apple and another ive yet to name or graft, found in a field near a local school.
The eastern-located apple was probably closer to its prime than the other, and it was outstanding. I could easily be happy if that was my only apple choice. The westerner was also great, and had it been picked a bit earlier might have been just as fine. (And the apple I was able to reach might not have been the best of the lot).
Both apples had top notch complexity, acid/sugar balance, and so on. The East apple was firmer, had a bit -but only a bit- better crunch and texture. (How well either will keep is just a guess, but given how well they’ve hung I’d be optimistic.) I’d guess the West apple had lost a touch of its acid.
It’s entirely possible that with thinning, good pruning and a decent feeding plan you could get them somewhat larger, but they don’t have to be huge to be worthwhile. I think you’ve found two keepers, and I’m planning to graft the East apple to a MM106 rootstock, and will find someplace on the frankenapfledrie (that’s a very old German word I just made up) for the West apple.
What are you thinking of for names? The could be named crabs, I suppose. But if you think that they’re sports or rootstock volunteers they could be unique. This is your opportunity. Go for it!
So glad you liked them! I had the same reaction about the western apple, thinking that I would be satisfied if it was my only apple.
I don’t think either are sports, but I don’t know if they were purposely grafted onto crab rootstock and then the rootstock sent up shoots that no one pinched off, or if the crabs are an ornamental that were grafted to seedling rootstock. My understanding is that whole strip was the front yards of homes that were removed when the interstate went in.
There is a third apple as well, just east of the western (larger apple) tree. My dad told me the third tree had two different bloom colors this spring. It had only one larger apple on it, so I hadn’t noticed it before. The one remaining specimen had a flavor perhaps reminiscent of golden delicious - totally different from the other two. You’ll have to keep an eye out for that one next year.
In my mind I think of the smaller (eastern) crab as “End of the Vine”, and the larger one as “Thanksgiving Red”, but I do think it could be likely they are both existing varieties.
Thanks for checking them out - made my day to be able to share them!
Good morning! I noticed that third apple- had a pair of whitetail settled down under it. I’ll see what it does in '26.
Another Rattlesnake apple is at the end of Duncan Drive by the power substation. It has a couple of trunks and the fruit are a closer to normal in size. They are a nice golden color and taste pretty good, but in my one sampling I didn’t decide I had to have them. The bear have beat the trees up pretty good, but they always put up plenty of new growth. But that’s one you might want to check out next year.
Hi Mark,
Sorry to hear that about your wife; that can be such a hard journey…
I will be sure to look you up next time we are in Montana!
Here is a photo of the unknown crab at the Helmville ranch, with the old milk barn in the background. This is behind the house where Dick, my uncle grew up, and I think the barn is mentioned in some of his stories.
My other uncle says they called this tree the “Banana Crab” growing up because of its mild flavor and elongated egg-shaped apples. Let me know if you want a stick! I wasn’t able to find any specimens to taste.
The apple temporarily called “Thanksgiving Red” is sweet, polite, crisp, clean, and seems like a great all-around apple. The apple I tested had a Brix of 13. Might have good storage potential.
The second apple, “End of the Vine”, is much more complex and tart. It also had a Brix of 23. It is smaller, but I think the more compelling of the two. I bite into it and go, “Wow!”
@marknmt : Ach du lieber! I vunder how many applus du hat fixéd onto dein frankenapfeldrie?
So far alla mein shtand alone, but ik am tinking to try anuder kind on vun er too.
(Sorry, but could just hear the folks back in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where I was born in the last century. Echoes mostly, now.)
The E. Vine tree has a few accessible shoots left, I think, but the “Rattlesnake” (W. Vine) doesn’t seem to have anything you can get to w/o a ladder or pole pruner.
Maybe I’ll swing by today and see what’s left